Cameroon 1 Denmark 2: match report

Read a full match report of the World Cup 2010 Group E game between Cameroon
and Denmark at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria on Saturday June 19
2010.

Winng performance: Dennis Rommedal set up Denmark's first goal then scored the secondPhoto: AP

By Rory Smith, in Pretoria

9:00PM BST 19 Jun 2010

Samuel Eto’o may be minded to ask, as he examines the wreckage of Cameroon’s World Cup campaign, not what he can do for his country, but what his country can do for him.

The Internazionale striker, a totemic figure in his homeland, entered this tournament under a cloud of criticism from Roger Milla, the man who first brought Cameroon to the world‘s consciousness.

Eto’o had never produced for his country, said his childhood hero. His heart was with his clubs, not his homeland.

On this evidence, Milla could not have been more wrong. Eto’o spent his evening in menacing mood, opening the scoring in ruthless fashion after 10 minutes and tormenting a nervous Danish defence at every turn.

He bristled and bubbled, a coiled spring of unceasing energy. That Cameroon are now eliminated is despite him, not because of him. In Pretoria, Eto’o’s country let him down.

They let him down by the remarkable profligacy of his strike partner Pierre Webo, who spurned four, five chances, including one which sailed off into the night sky, possibly never to return.

Such a player deserves more reliable company. He deserves a steadier supplier, too, than Achille Emana, an emblem of unpredictability. The Real Betis player obviously thrives on complication.

Twice he burst through Simon Kjaer and Daniel Agger only to shoot straight at Thomas Sorensen, though as Cameroon pressed late on he did, at least, force a tremendous low save from the Stoke goalkeeper.

And he deserves a better defence than the one which was picked apart expertly on the counter attack by Denmark.

After Eto’o had struck, Emana laying the ball into his path after Christian Poulsen needlessly ceded possession on the edge of his own box, Cameroon should have eased home.

Instead, Kjaer produced the pass of the tournament, an artful, raking 50-yard ball straight to Dennis Rommedahl’s toe. The former Charlton winger slid into the path of Nicklas Bendtner and the Danes were level.

It nearly did not last, Eto’o striking the post just moments after Alex Song had produced a wonderful block to deny Jon-Dahl Tomasson as what may have looked an uninspiring encounter turned into a blockbuster.

Not one, though, with a happy ending for Eto’o, or Cameroon. Denmark broke again, Rommedahl twisting past Benoit Assou-Ekotto and firing low into the far corner.